In December, I celebrated the 21st anniversary of my 29th birthday. I didn’t want a party or a gift; what I really really wanted was to go away with my husband and no kids!

I would have been happy to go to the next town– don’t get me wrong, I love my boys, but I haven’t been away from them with my husband since… ever! Lucky me, Mr. Wild Onion had better plans than going to Oxnard.

We spent the big 5-0 in the big 5-0! It’s no secret that I think my town is the best place in the world to be. In the 11 years I’ve lived here, I’ve never found any vacation spot that compares to my home. Until last week:

I totally get the hoopla surrounding Hawaii. I have spent the past 7 days trying to convince DH to buy property there… it’s an investment!! Right? Right? Come on– if you can help me convince him, you can come play in my island studio!!

I’ll never ever forget the first glimpse of that beautiful water:

How cool is the volcano– free facials just by walking over a steam vent:

Do you watch Lost on tv? DH drove down down down into the Wai’pio valley, where I kept watching out the window for the smoke monster to appear:

We stayed on the Big Island, where lava is the name of the game:

There’s even a beach with black sand (pulverized lava!):

The turtles love that beach– they like to swim up and sunbathe there! Speaking of turtles, we were lucky enough to swim with one while we were snorkeling one day. Although we were careful to stay back so as not to disturb the turtle, it was still pretty special to share the water with such a graceful being.

Our wonderful hotel, the Ka’awa Loa Plantation (more on this hotel in a future post!) has outdoor showers, with lava rock walls:

I was a bit teary getting on the plane. I really wanted to stay longer, but feared that the boys would have my mother tied up in the closet if we did. That, or her brain would explode from trying to keep all their activities straight!

We flew home, got to bed, and were woken up by our cell phones going off over and over at 4am; our family was frantic about our safety, as the tsunami was heading our way. While we were safe in bed, Chile had been struck by a devastating earthquake, and the islands of Hawaii were hunkering down against the possibility of disaster. Our hearts go out to the people of Chile (and Haiti). Our hearts are also grateful that our beautiful Hawaii was unharmed and will be waiting for our return.